Three views on Louisiana's juvenile penal system

E. Pete Adams: Some cases should be tried in adult court

The decision to allow certain juvenile offenders to be tried as adults was made by the Louisiana Legislature and enshrined in the state constitution in the 1990s by an overwhelming majority of voters. Contrary to the anecdotal arguments made against the practice, district attorneys have exercised much discretion in using this procedure, reserving it for the most serious offenses and offenders.

We agree that most juveniles should not be treated as adults. Louisiana's district attorneys have been willing partners in the massive reform of our juvenile justice system over the past decade. In our new model, all offenders sentenced to the Office of Juvenile Justice - violent and nonviolent alike - are placed in rehabilitative programs.

Suggesting that every murderer or rapist under the age of 18 (regardless of the circumstances of the crime, regardless of their criminal history and regardless of their potential for violence) should be housed and treated alongside of these other children is simply ignoring reality. The prospect of releasing some of these violent, remorseless rapists and killers at age 31 is also a chilling one.

By a narrow margin, the U.S. Supreme Court has removed capital punishment as an option for those committing murder under the age of 17. The court further required, in a separate case, that it be determined at the trial court level whether a juvenile murderer should be sentenced with or without the possibility of being considered for parole. Not satisfied, some advocates are suggesting no prison time at all for the worst offenses, committed by the most violent offenders, simply because they have not yet reached the age of 18.

These most egregious cases require that our primary considerations be the safety of the victims and the communities that we serve.

E. Pete Adams is the executive director of the Louisiana District Attorneys Association.

Jessica Sandoval: Trying youth as adults can harm society

Over the past several years, we have witnessed a steady stream of research demonstrating that the practice of trying and sentencing children in adult court does not reduce crime; in fact, it does just the opposite. Indeed, trying youth as adults has a detrimental impact on the youth, but the practice also harms public safety.

Louisiana has a lower age of court jurisdiction. All 17-year-olds are automatically prosecuted in the adult court - no matter the offense. Louisiana is one of only 15 states that gives prosecutors, instead of judges, sole discretion on deciding whether to send youth to adult court. And Louisiana places children in adult jails pretrial. Louisiana consistently leads the country in participating in these harmful practices.

Many states are making strides. For example, states such as Illinois and Massachusetts approved legislation in their 2013 sessions to raise the age of juvenile court jurisdiction to age 18, thereby providing opportunities for more youth to access rehabilitative programs and services in the juvenile justice system rather than the adult criminal justice system. These efforts follow states such as Connecticut and Mississippi that revised their statutes in previous years. Louisiana continues to lag behind.

Many children behind bars are often placed in isolation, which can produce harmful consequences, including death. Youth are frequently locked down 23 hours a day in their cells, for extended periods of time. In fact, youth housed in adult jails are 36 times more likely to commit suicide than are youth housed in juvenile detention facilities.

October is National Youth Justice Awareness Month and a great time to raise public awareness on this issue. At the Campaign for Youth Justice, we believe that our children are worth far more than the biggest mistake they have ever made. We cannot simply throw them away to the adult criminal justice system.

Louisiana can and should do better.

Jessica Sandoval is vice president and deputy director for the Campaign for Youth Justice, a national group dedicated to ending the practice of trying, sentencing and incarcerating youth as adults.

Letter to the editor: Juvenile justice system has serious flaws

In the editorial, "Some juveniles should be tried as adults," published last week, there were some oversights that should be taken into consideration.

The editorial, published on Oct. 21, states that district attorneys have a "great deal of discretion" over whether to send youth to adult criminal court and concludes the system is not flawed. Our decades of experience working with youth and their families impacted by Louisiana's justice system tell a different story.

Too many district attorneys aren't exercising their discretion. In some parishes, they send nearly every youth that is eligible for transfer to adult criminal court in conveyer belt fashion. But using discretion is vital, because all children are not the same. So many young people are driven into the juvenile justice system by developmental delays and mental illness that demand treatment and support, not criminal punishment. Public safety is not served by giving life sentences to sick children.

While underutilized, the discretion itself is limited. In Louisiana, all 17-year-olds are automatically tried as adults, no matter the alleged offense. That means seniors in high school arrested for a schoolyard fight will likely go in front of a criminal judge for sentencing. The same children arrested for joyriding face up to 10 years in the Department of Corrections. In some cases, youth as young as 15 cannot be prosecuted in juvenile court.

We conclude that the system is flawed and must be changed. It is not fair to the youth and their families. It comes at an enormous cost to state taxpayers, and further, it does not promote public safety.

Rather than continue to defend an unfair, costly and ineffective approach, our state officials should embrace changes that would better serve Louisiana's youth and their families, and invest resources in proven and effective approaches that will improve public safety. We have made great strides in reforming our juvenile justice system in the past. We should not stop before reforming our excessive and ineffective reliance on transfer.